Kittle to Take News Slot at KUSI-TV

Bob Kittle, former chief editorial writer for the Union-Tribune, confirmed today (April 12) that he will become director of programming and content on KUSI. Kittle said he will be reporting to the news director. The news director, Steve Cohen, said he knew nothing about it, and said KUSI brass were out of town and wouldn't make such an announcement until the end of the week, if there were such an announcement. As far as I can tell, the news was first reported on Twitter by Gloria Penner of KPBS, who worked with Kittle regularly through the years. The Voice of San Diego then picked up the story from Penner. Cohen scoffed at the source of the news, belittling a Twitter report picked up by the Voice.

Response to post #1: I remember having seen that article at the time of Kittle's sacking. It was so laughable that Kittle's big supporter was Sainz. He used to call up Kittle, plant untruthful statements, and Kittle would get them in the paper the next day without checking them. When the lie was exposed, the retraction would be buried in tiny print somewhere. Kittle had serious conflicts of interest. I printed in the Reader several times the story about Kittle seeing Scott Peters at a breakfast. Peters gave him an op-ed that he wanted printed. Kittle got back to him and said it would be printed, even though Bernie Jones was supposedly in charge of op-eds. Kittle then said he needed some favors: he wanted telephone poles moved from near his home and signs posted to slow down the speeders. Peters told him it was a done deal. A couple of weeks later, Peters came in for his pre-election interview. Peters got a ringing endorsement from the U-T. This was all memorialized in emails between Kittle and Peters. Best, Don Bauder

The reporter who wrote the UT hit pieces on Aguirre (Alex Roth, presumably writing them for Kittle) who was subsequently hired to be part of Sanders "communications team" (more accurately the "communications prevention team") is currently giving the VofSD the runaround and not allowing the release of information on rates for reclaimed water that goes very cheaply to some well connected customers.

Response to post #3: Yes, Kittle would write the hit piece on Aguirre, based on false information from Sainz, and then Roth would pick it up the next day and write a purported news story on it. Roth left to go to the Wall Street Journal. I was surprised because the Journal is usually very careful about whom it hires. Then Roth returned to work for Sanders -- for whom he was working when he was in San Diego -- after only six months or so. Best, Don Bauder

Well, Penner will be happy if the report is true. She'll be able to count Kittle as an editor, no matter how specious the moniker, and put him back on her dreadful little show every Friday to pontificate far and wide. But Don: by Cohen belittling a report that BowTie Bob himself has confirmed, hasn't he exposed, deliberately or not, newsroom tension from the get-go?
No matter, I suppose. In the end, if the Twitter proves true, then KUSI will simply cement its position as the doormat of SD electronic media news, whether castoffs from the city's other news organizations go to die...

Response to post #5: I should have explained that I called Cohen before I called Kittle. Cohen had no idea that Kittle would later confirm it. Cohen did say that nothing had been posted at KUSI. Best, Don Bauder

Didn't Kittle and his wife get sufficiently rich from the sale of the Rhodes School? Does he really need to get back into the harness and start dealing with "news" and "opinion?" Or is it that he REALLY believes the stuff that he put on the U-T editorial page over the years?

Response to post #8: At the U-T, Kittle was so gushingly pro-establishment that intelligent people tuned out the editorial page. People rightfully became quite suspicious of KPBS, which had him on every week (and had the Copley name on the building). It will be a long time before KPBS gets over that -- if it actually wants to. I would hate to see KUSI go down the same route. Best, Don Bauder

Response to post #12: I don't know if there are any plans to put Kittle on air at KUSI. It's my understanding that after he was sacked by the U-T, he had some kind of talk show on one of the local radio stations, but I have only heard that. I don't know how the show did, if there was such a show. Best, Don Bauder

Rob Kittle hogs the microphone, this we know from his KPBS appearances. I expect his commentary right after the KUSI singing weatherman. Unlike other comics like Limbaugh, Beck, or Colbert, he seems ignorant of his comic effect, even with the bow tie. KUSI will have to lock him off the sound stage to keep him from giving this town one more laugh.